Known in the art is a number of electrolyzers for the purification of fluids having bulk chip electrodes. For example, known in the art is the electrolyzer described in SU, A, No. 700468.
This known in the art electrolyzer comprises a vertically extending cylindrical electrically conducting casing containing a charge of chip with an anode current lead provided in the bottom part of the casing, a perforated plate cathode positioned above the charge and insulated therefrom by means of a perforated insulating diaphragm, a pipe for supplying waste fluid into the charge, and a pipe for removing the fluid after the treatment positioned in the top part of the casing.
The charge is dissolved in this electrolyzer during the flow of fluid through the stationary charge. Consequently, electrolysis products formed during operation of the electrolyzer contaminate the charge thus resulting in an increase in the ohmic resistance of the bulk electrode and in the formation of dead zones within the volume of the electrode.
In view of the above, it is necessary, during operation of the electrolyzer, to carry out regular air-water regeneration of the charge and its rinsing with acid solutions. In addition, such electrolyzers exhibit a small electrode working area with a large volume of the electrolyzer structure. The anode current lead in such electrolyzers is on the casing bottom, at a great distance from the cathode, so as to result in a high ohmic resistance of the electrolytic cell.
Therefore, such electrolyzers are rather inefficient for the purification of fluids.
Known in the art is an electrolyzer described in SU, A, No. 1122618, comprising a cylindrical electrically conducting casing having end plates and mounted for rotation about its axis, the casing being connected to a positive terminal of a power supply and functioning as one of the electrodes of the electrolyzer, a charge of electrically conducting particles in the casing, a second electrode in the form of a cylindrical cathode positioned in the central part of the casing coaxially therewith and insulated from the charge by means of an insulating diaphragm. One end plate of the casing incorporates a pipe for supplying fluid to the electrolyzer for treatment, and the other end plate incorporates a pipe for discharging fluid after the treatment.
During operation of the electrolyzer the casing extends vertically and the charge is stationary so that an intensive contamination of charge occurs. For regeneration of the charge after contamination, fluid treatment is suspended, the casing of the electrolyzer is put into the horizontal position, and the casing is then rotated by a motor about its longitudinal axis of symmetry to reshuffle the chip charge so as to clean it. These measures are, however, rather inefficient and do not allow cleaning of the charge and diaphragm in the central part of the casing to be effected.
For operation of the prior art electrolyzer with continual rotation of the casing, it would be necessary to provide a special design of current leads and pipes for fluid supply and discharge to enable a continual rotation. It should be, however, noted that operation of the electrolyzer with the abovedescribed relative position of the electrodes and casing cannot ensure the desired result. This is due to the fact that charge in the central part of the casing is reshuffled but to a very insignificant extent and does not change its position; at the same time, it is this part of the charge that is most liable to contamination.